Hello all!
I built a MendelMax 1.5+ 3d printer back in 2013, and it has served me pretty well since then. However, I’ve wanted an MPCNC ever since I first saw one, and finally hatched a plan to use the MendelMax to slowly print its own “replacement body” and transfer the parts over. I’ve been slowly printing parts off and on throughout this year, and last weekend, I finally got first motion!
I built this one a bit oversize - about 42 x 24 outer dimensions, because I want to take a shot at milling RC glider molds and wing cores with it. If this size doesn’t work out, I can shrink it later and see if I can make those parts via indexing. Other than that, this is a pretty standard build with PLA+ and conduit.
I also plan to use it for vinyl cutting, 3d printing, and perhaps needle-cutting DTFB.
After I got everything going the right direction, the first program I ran on it was the crown, of course. Yay! With that under my belt, I strapped the DW660 on and made some test cuts. Cool! Cheap plywood and an upcut bit made for some nasty pullout, but I’m still excited to be able to mill something! It’s pretty loud for my den “makerspace,” though, even on a router speed control at minimum. I’m contemplating some kind of sound dampening, or perhaps switching to something that I can slow down a lot more, but that might depend on what the verdict is from my wife.
I had some challenges with the smart controller board that I bought from the shop. First, I hadn’t realized that I would need an adapter to wire it into my old RAMPS board, so I had to order that and wait for it to come in. After reversing the connectors as I had read online, I got it to “kind of” work, but the output was kind of glitchy (“LCD artifacts”), enough to not really be usable. I finally found the answer, which was to adjust the delay timing in my Marlin config. Once applied, the LCD was finally in business. I think this might be related to the nice, long cables that are included. Here is the change that fixed it for me, in case anyone else encounters this issue:
#define REPRAP_DISCOUNT_FULL_GRAPHIC_SMART_CONTROLLER
#define ST7920_DELAY_1 DELAY_NS(0)
#define ST7920_DELAY_2 DELAY_NS(200)
#define ST7920_DELAY_3 DELAY_NS(0)
Next, it was time to 3d print something. This is where I got to make the machine’s first “real” part. I had planned to re-use all of the electronic components from the MendelMax, including its old Wade’s extruder and Budaschnozzle 2.0, and had designed and printed 2 different alternative mounts for them. Now that the MPCNC is put together and the 3d printer is no more, I found out that they were both too close to the mounting place to accommodate the cold end! What to do? Well, redraw the part with enough space, and mill it out, of course! I used some 5mm plywood and 12mm plywood stacked and glued with dowels to make the part. I’ll post a better picture of it when I get one.
The new mount works well enough that I was finally able to 3d print last night. Now that I can print again, I feel like the machine is “complete!” There is still work to be done, and lots of things to try out, but I think I’m finally at the end of the beginning!
